Deciding By Referendum !

 New South Wales looks like becoming the only state that refuses to allow those suffering a terminal disease to die with help from their doctor.  That legislation passed in New Zealand when sixty-five percent of the voters gave it approval in a referendum and it is also the law in both Victoria and Western Australia. It is likely to become legal in Tasmania early next year and Queensland has also promised to put it to the vote.

Now a Liberal minister and Labor's Police spokesperson are jointly advocating a referendum on that issue and hoping to bring it to fruition at the next state election, scheduled for 2023.  This is not receiving support from Premier Gladys Berejiklian who has promised no more " conscience votes " in the life of the present parliament.

The Premier is anxious to avoid the discord that greeted legislation to make abortion legal in this state. It was the only state where it was freely available, but technically illegal, and the subject resulted in a bruising debate before it finally passed into law.   It seems that New South Wales is an unusually conservative state.

Polls have shown that about eighty percent of Australians support assisted  dying for the terminally ill.  An ABC poll last year put that figure at ninety percent.  The legislation in force in Victoria and Western Australia  allows people to end their lives with medical help if they are terminally ill with a prognosis of less than six months, or twelve months  for a neurodegenerative condition like motor neurone disease.

There is mixed support from individual doctors, but the Australian Medical  Association is opposed on the grounds that it breaches the obligation to do no harm.  A similar conscience vote was struck down by just one vote when it was put to the NSW parliament in 2017.

It is interesting that this bill has political support from both the major parties.  Unfortunately, death from many diseases can be either uncomfortable to extremely painful and that pain can be avoided with the help of the treating doctor.  As the law now stands, a doctor who eases that pain by allowing sufficient drugs to lower the pain threshold can be charged with a criminal offence.

The thinking is that by putting this question to a referendum makes the position of the voters clear to the men and women they elect to parliament to carry out their wishes.  The outcome of a referendum makes it abundantly clear what is expected of their representatives, and failure to follow that direction would have repercussions at the next election.

In fact, with a referendum scheduled to accompany an election, those standing would be expected to to pledge to honour the referendum result in their manifesto seeking support.  That would seem a sure way to guarantee the wishes of the voters.